High Life A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Citizen Bee’s Best Prep for Bigger Fish

About 40 of the brightest high school students from Orange and San Diego counties fought a battle of the minds last weekend in a grueling three-hour competition designed to test their knowledge of American history, geography and current events.

The students, taking part in the second annual California Citizen Bee competitions, had to correctly answer a series of questions on such topics to test their academic acumen.

Tung Phan, 16, a junior at Kennedy High School in La Palma, and Dennis Ulrich, 18, a senior at Mission Viejo High, won first-place honors in Region E, which covers Orange and San Diego counties. They were each awarded $500 and will represent their region in a statewide competition this month.

The winners of the statewide competition will receive cash awards of $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 for first, second and third place, respectively. The winners will also represent California in the national competition in Washington in June.

Finishing in second place, Mayumi Negishi, a senior at El Toro High and Mark Coldrup, a senior at Mission Viejo High; in third place, Tri Nguyen, a junior at Saddleback High, and Dierk Meierbachtol, Gompers Secondary in San Diego.